Minnesota Campground Survives Flooding

The campground, near Lanesboro, Minn., along the Root River, was partially in the river on Sunday (June 8), said owner John Hungerholt. “On Sunday night, it did get higher than it has ever been before” or at least in the seven years he’s had the campground, according to the Rochester, Minn., Post-Bulletin.
He has 90 sites, and about 55 lower-level sites had motorhomes or other kinds of campers on them, he said. When the river rose out of its banks and began to flood the low area, the camping units were moved. All were safe, though some had water around the wheels.
But a lot of other items remained behind, such as picnic tables, chairs and decks, he said. They floated down the river, into trees or elsewhere. Also, a lot of sand and gravel was moved from where he wanted it to where it wasn’t welcome. On Tuesday, he was using a tractor to move the gravel back to where it was needed. The motorhomes had to stay put until things dry up.
Camper Brenda Fick, however, had Monday and Tuesday off work as a Rochester Methodist Hospital nurse. But instead of relaxing, she searched for her patio furniture that had floated away. When she found one, she put it on her head to carry it back to her motorhome.
The deck would have to stay in the woods for a while, she said.
She said she got the call to move her motorhome on Sunday and got it to higher ground. Still, she and about a dozen other campers were taken by boat to higher ground. All were safe. “It was pretty scary,” she said.
Fick stayed with several other families in the area. “I feel like a homeless person,” she said. “I had a bag, and a purse and my dog, that was all I had.”
But everyone helped. “You couldn’t ask for better people,” she said.
She and others plan to have T-shirts made with, “We survived the 2008 flood” on one side and “Got a boat?” on the other.